Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1887-09-06
9ally gress ai,a 1akataiaa
DIGGING IN THE DARK.
skiIiful Surgical Operation
on a Colored Mans
Stomach Passage.
ns Swallowed . Peach Pa.-He
Would HAYS Died were it not
for the Merry Surgeons.

NEW YORK, Sept. 5.--Thomas Dark is
a negro. He lives at 80 Thompson street.
He is about % years OF ags,a aud is very
found Of peaches. He was eating a peach
which he so keenly enjoyed that he for.
got 70 spit eut the stony pit and awal,
ioweu IL vow the pit proved TO be two
large to pass down his socsophagus-and
me s1fmly impacted about six inches
above the place where the organ ends in
the stomach. The pit would neither
ove up nor down, and besides the dis
stfessilR pain it caused, the o~bstruct.o
quickly gave rise to a soyersrcolic. Four
days passed during which several doctors
tried to dislodge the pit but without sue
cess. AT length the poor negro's condi-
ton became so serious that he was re.
ally Threatened with starvation, and his
friends determined to send him to the
New York hospital, which they did on
Monday. Here DR.. w. II. Bull assumed
charge OF the case. The patient was in
such 4 dirty and filthy condition that as
q necessary preliminary he was given q
vigorous washing with warm water and
q %scrubbing brush well soaped. Ha was
taken from the wash-tub several shades
lighter, but declared that the loss of dirt
made him feel cold. He wal then given
ether In sufficient quantities to produce
profound insensibility and placed on the
operating table. An attempt was now
nlado to discover the real location of the
obstruction, and sound were passed in
the hope that now while the patient was
under ether, and all the parts fully re-
Taxed, IL might be possible to push it
down, but the attempt failed to move
the obstruction. Foreapa with long bent
handles were then tried with nc better
result, and after a number Of futile at
Temple Of tho same kind the surgeon aud
his staff OF assistants concluded that it
could be removed through the mouth.
hut the obstruction had to be removed
or the patient would die OF Starvation, II
not of collie caused by Intestinal ebstruc-
ton. There WAS but one more way to
attempt It's removal, and that has failed
80 often that 1t was considered a danger
u but Justified measure under the cir
eumst&ncas. Gastrotomy, or opening of
the %nfotnach, were the only means re-
mainlngi knives were brought and
carefully washed in an antiseptic soIu-
ton; more ether was given. When all
was ready DR.. Bull made an inctsion
along the medtan line of the epiaastrium
from the ensiform cartilage downward
three inches long, then putting in his
fingers he pushed back the flap Of liver
which lay just beneath, and at q point a
little lower down discovered tho blush,
giistening surface OF the stomach. With
. curyed Hoccadon needle carrying heavy
surgical silk he made g stitch into the
n fastened It to the external
wall OF the abdomen at the upper single
Of the wound, thus making ii impossible
X fort TIM rreynpT sfn,7a1I, ryA., ~ inl o.-l
into 1t. He then mado an i~ucision int
che stonnch Itself and introduced the tive
first angers OF his right hand into the
eaylsy Of the organ; as he did se a guam
tfty OF gus escaped. Then with q little
patience he found the o~csophaKeal orifice
and pushed his finger Up 1t until 1t en-.
countered the iinpacted peach pit; he then
tried to push 1t up but could not; the
mucous membrane had swollen no much
that IT would not pass. An attempt wa
then made to grasp the stone with rat
trap forceps, bat those could nGt find
room to get Il grip, so proved u~seless. AT
last he succeeded In passing a fine French
rubber cRthetar past the stone UP the
oesophagus until 1t appeared as the
month; then he tied a string K the lower
end of the oathetar, and to the string at
facbed p soft sponpe we'll soaped, then
Pu.AAns sns gAtHepilf HP the ocsopHaxuR
sad out OF the mouth. the string follow
Inc. he grasped the string, and to prevent
1t from wounding the throat he passed 4
rubber tube over It down as far as posi-.
BILE, thea he pulled slowly but steadily
upward on tha string Al frstsi 1t seemed
As though IT would fail to move the stohs
owing to the swollen stste OF the mem
brane ahous II, but finally II gave with d
ssap and In q few seconds more came up
with the sponge. The ether which had
been given for three hours and a half wi
then discontinued, and the patient taken
te his bed In the general ward.
els doing we'll and will recover, but
not IN time to eat any more peaches this
season